[COVID-19 and stroke].
Review published in Rinsho shinkeigaku = Clinical neurology (2020)
Abstract
Due to the pandemic of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the stroke medical care system is unavoidably undergoing major changes such as a decrease in the number of stroke patients receiving consultation, delay in consultation, and a decrease in the number of intravenous thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy procedures. Stroke incidence in COVID-19 patients is approximately 1.1%. The features of stroke with COVID-19 have been elucidated: higher incidence in ischemic stroke than hemorrhagic stroke, increasing number of young patients, high D-dimer levels, and higher risk in elderly patients with cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes. In patients with COVID-19, venous thromboembolism is more common than arterial thromboembolism, and stroke is more common than acute coronary syndrome. Protected code stroke (PCS) has been proposed which provides safe, effective and prompt treatment under complete infection control.
Abstract sourced from PubMed (NCBI) for the cited record. See the original publication for the authoritative version.
Summary
Due to the pandemic of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the stroke medical care system is unavoidably undergoing major changes such as a decrease in the number of stroke patients receiving consultation, delay in consultation, and a decrease in the number of intravenous thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy procedures. Stroke incidence in COVID-19 patients is approximately 1.1%.
Why This Matters for Hirudotherapy
This Japanese-language review describes how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted stroke care and summarizes the features of stroke in COVID-19 patients, reporting a stroke incidence of roughly 1.1%, a predominance of ischemic over hemorrhagic stroke, elevated D-dimer levels, greater venous than arterial thromboembolism, and higher risk in older patients with cardiovascular risk factors. Its connection to ASH is the thrombosis-and-coagulation theme: COVID-19's pronounced prothrombotic, high-D-dimer state is exactly the kind of hypercoagulable setting in which anticoagulant pharmacology (including agents in the leech-derived antithrombotic discovery space) is clinically discussed. This is a review summarizing other reports and early-pandemic experience, contains no leech-related or hirudotherapy content, and predates much later COVID evidence, so it should be read as descriptive context only.
Citation
Added to ASH library: May 28, 2026 · Site last updated: June 18, 2026